I know that Lent has already started but I feel that I am about to confess something with my opening line of my latest article, forgive me Evertonians but it has been some time since my last article!
I have had to take an enforced rest from work for a few weeks due to ill health. Thanks to all for your good wishes and the staff and fellow patients in ward 3 of the Southern General Hospital, all your kind help and great banter from all made things that bit easier for me and my family, much appreciated!
I had phone calls from my Everton pals from Liverpool, Andy and Tommy and when I told them that I was wearing my Everton top whilst in the S.G. overnight and with typical Scouse humour, Tommy said, you don’t have to take being an Evertonian to those limits!!!
A lot has happened since my last article for Everton-Mad for the team from the Blue half of Merseyside and not all of it good!
During the January transfer window the club have brought in the six million dollar man, James Beat tie and also our new loan (ex) Ranger, Mikel Arteta from Real Sociedad along with other new boy Guillaume
Plessis to add to the squad as Thomas Gravesen (Real Madrid), Kevin Campbell (WBA) and Nick Chadwick (Plymouth) have gone through the Goodison Park exit door, good luck to all the guys who have come in to the club as well as the players who have left.
In the Chelsea match record signing James Beattie was sent off after 8 minutes and gave the team an uphill struggle, had it not been for Nigel Martyn the margin would have been greater! Tim Cahill was also
booked in this match and missed the FA Cup tie v Manchester United. This match was not billed as Everton v Manchester United, it was hyped up as former Blue’s favorite Wayne Rooney’s return to Goodison Park and sometimes the media does over play these situations so much so that some people are too hyped up even before the match has started and this proved to be the case!
Wayne was always going to get stick and as long as it is booing then that is fine but when the field of play
is being littered with coins and mobile phones then there is something very wrong!
Even before the match had started Wayne was subjected to abuse from people who were on the pitch as guests of the club, this is simply not on! The record books will show that Manchester United won the match 2-0 but what it will be remembered for is all the bad tempered incidents on and off the pitch, including United keeper, Roy Carroll being hit by a coin! This kind of thing is just not good enough Everton will now be hit hard for this stupid act! Just what can you achieve by throwing objects ? Serious injuries and life-time bans if you are caught!
I can only say sorry to Roy Carroll , Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney and any of the United players who were caught up in any of the missiles that were thrown on to the pitch, I hope you know that the majority of Evertonians are decent people and totally disagree with what happened on Saturday night before during and after the match at Goodison. Have we gone back to the bad old days of a punch up after the match? Both clubs have great histories and traditions and have had great relations in the past .
So the FA Cup dreams are no more for another year, the Carling Cup dreams were over already as the club were beaten by an Arsenal reserve team so now the club have to totally focus on keeping the 4th position in the League and hopefully secure the Champions League place that they so crave and that their hard work at the start of the season deserves.
Fixtures against Aston Villa and Blackburn are now our most important matches, before a small matter of the second Merseyside derby of the season at Anfield, make no mistake the Reds will be up for that one
after losing to Lee Carsley’s goal at Goodison!
This will be James Beattie’s first match back after his ban. If he wants to win the fans over after his stupid antics in the match v Chelsea then the winner in this match and goals from now till the end of the season to make sure that the Manager and the club who have shown faith in him get in to the Champions
League next season will do very nicely thank-you!
People looking at Everton cannot fail to be impressed with what David Moyes has done with this club this
season and surely he deserves more money to help him build this club and keep them as a top six club for
many years to come. I just hope that the club does not regret not bringing in more players during the January transfer window!
Both the players that the gaffer brought in at the start of the season, Marcus Bent and Tim Cahill have proved their worth in a Blue shirt so far this season others have still to do so!
Everton have many big matches ahead in this season, there may be no silverware but the lure of Champions
League football may bring some big names to Goodison Park and matches like the great games you will
watch this week, Manchester United v AC Milan or Barcelona v Chelsea could easily be Everton!
Those who play in a Blue shirt should think about this as they play for the club till the end of the season!
I hope that by the time I next write, after the Liverpool match, the club will still be in a much stronger position for European football.
And to my old pal John-have a Happy Birthday mate maybe Liverpool will beat Chelsea on Sunday after all and give you something to smile about after Sunday’s Old Firm result !